Gujarat to monitor medical waste

Gandhinagar, March 2 (IANS) The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) is firming up plans to implement a technology-based reporting system for gathering information on medical waste generated by hospitals and clinics across the state. The decision follows seizure of about 75 tonnes of medical waste from 25 big and small warehouses in Ahmedabad by the city’s civic authorities during the past four days.

“We will commence with government medical health centres in the first phase to gather information on the daily medical waste generated. Managers of the health centres will provide the data at the end of the day and the exact time when the waste was incinerated,” a senior GPCB official said.

The official said the government and privately-run hospitals and clinics would be covered in the second phase of the project. The system to track medical waste is expected to be ready and functional in the next five weeks, he added.

Meanwhile, the pollution control board has asked the the municipal corporation’s health department to start closing down the clinics found guilty of dumping medical waste in the open after providing a week’s notice. So far, 15 private clinics in Ahmedabad have been closed down.